Pierre manhes



(No Model.)

P.MANHES. PROCESS OF TREATING COPPER MATTE.

neg.

Patented July 21, 1891.

., WASMM UNITED STATES PATENT OFFrcE.

PIERRE MANHES, OF LYONS, FRANCE.

PROCESS OF TREATING COPPER MATTE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 456,516, dated July 21, 1891.

Application filed January 28, 1884. Serial No. 118,943. (No specimens.) Patented in France December l8I 1883, No. 159,249; in England January 3, 1884, No. 583: in Belgium January 7,1884, No. 63,779: in Italy January 11, 1884,1lm279; in Germany January 13, 1884,110. 28,750,- in Austria-Hungary January 14,1884,No. 2,582; in Spain January-15, 1884,No. 3.901: in Portugal March 4,1884,No.894; in Sweden April 15,1884; in Norway July 25,1884,No. 31, and in Russia June 26,1886,

To all whom it may concern: and Fig. 2 an end view, of a converter that Be it known that I, PIERRE MANHES, of may be employed with my process. Figs. 3, Lyons, France, have invented an Improved 4, 5, and 6 are sectional views showing the Process of Treating Copper Matte, of which position of the tuyeres during different stages 5 the followingis a specification, the same havof the process.

ing been patented as follows: in France, de- This furnace is composed of a horizontal posited December 18, 1883, granted March 1, cylinder of sheet-iron A, lined on its interior 1881, No.159,249; in Great Britain, dated J anwith refractory material, and it is turned on nary 3, 1884, No. 583 in Belgium, deposited its axis by means of the crank-handle N, the

IQ January 7, 1884, granted January 31, 1881, shaft of which carries a pinion M, that acts v No. 63,7 7 9 in Italy, deposited January 11, upon a circular rack L, secured to the cylin- 1884:, granted January 21, 1884:, No. 279; in der. This cylinder has two circular rails K, Germany,deposited January12,1884, granted which rest upon the rollers J J upon a car- October 2, 1881, No. 28,7 50; in Austria-Hunriage supported on wheels, which allow the 15 gary, deposited January 14, 1881, granted apparatus to be moved from place to place.

June 11, 1881, No. 2,582; in Spain, deposited This carriage is operated by the cranks T. January 15, 1881, granted April 23, 1884, No. The cranks 'l are secured to a shaft that has 3,901; in Russia, deposited February 6, 188 1; pinions meshing into geauwhecls upon the in Norway, deposited February 15, 1884, axles of the wheels that support the carriage.

2o granted July 25, 1884, No. 31; in Sweden, de- The furnace is open at its two extremities F posited February 17, 1881, granted April 15, and G to receive, if necessary, the heat from 1884, and in Portugal, deposited February 18, any furnace. The charging and discharging 1884, granted March 4, 1884, No. 894:. i take place at the mouth or flue ll. On the The present invention relates to a new proopposite side to this flue are placed the tuy- 25 cess of obtaining copper at a single operation eres E, passing in a range through the lining from copper matte of any standard and comat the desired inclination and opening at the position. This processconsists, essentially, of interior on the same horizontal line. These varying during the continuance of the opertuyeres in any desired number are supplied ation the height of the tuyeres which bring from an air-box 0, receiving the air bya flexi- 30 the air charged or not with foreign matters ble or jointed tube P. Pulverized material into the bath of melted matte in order to perplaced in the box V can be injected with the form with precision the chemical reactions air by opening the cooks X Y, which allow a necessary in such parts of the bath where portion of the air-blast to pass through the they are useful. During the transformation box V. i

35 of the mattes into copper the composition of The apparatus above described will serve the bath is far from being homogeneous, the to explain my method by the'following eX- diverse matters which compose it being suample: Suppose the copper matte contains, perposed in order of density and their volume as usual, sulphur, iron, and copper, and in'a varies in proportion as the operation admuch less proportion lead, zinc, tin, arsenic,

4o vanccs. It is therefore of very great imporantimony, the. The converter, after having tance to vary at the same time the height at been heated to a red heat by an independent which the air enters the-mass, so as to make furnace, is brought to the furnace containing it act only where it is useful, and to prevent the matte, and the con vertcrisinclined so that it acting upon those parts of the bath where the orifice ll occupies the position shown in 45 its presence would be injurious or at least Fig. 1., and the melted matte is run into the useless. To put this process in practice I emconvert-er by the trough I. When the charge ploy a furnace similar to the converter emis considered sufficient, the tap-hole of the ployed in the treatment of iron. furnace is closed and the converter is slightly raised, but without allowing the melted metal In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation,

Q for conveying away the fumes.

o melted matte.

' 0 ized than copper.

. air-blast is applied and where is located-the tube P for said air-blast. and also the chimney The converter is partially revolved as soon as the airblast has been connected until the air penetrates the liquid matte to the desired depth below its surface. The air passes at a downward.

IO inclination, and the depth to which the air penetrates depends upon the pressure of the air made use of. The reaction commences immediately. The oxygen of the air combines with the sulphur and forms sulphurous '15 acid, and with all the other bodies it forms oxides, which are carried away by the gaseous current. The greater part of the iron which passes to the state of oxide remains in the bath and would soon injure the lining of the converter and quickly render it use less if recourse were not had to the injection of silica tocombine with such iron and form a slag. For this reason, from the commencement of the blowing, the reservoir of silica V is'put in communication with the airblast, and this latter carries the silica into the bath, where it is brought into contact with the oxide of iron and forms silicate of iron, which melts and floats in the bath of I The volume of matte becomes less by the liberation of the sulphur and other bodies. Consequently the converter is turned progressively and slowly, in order that the airblast may still penetrate the matte to the de- 5 sired extent. The matte is thus concentrated and approximates metallic copper by the loss of the other elementsi ron and sulphur-as well as the combustion and volatilization of the metalloids and metals more easily oxid- Aftcr a time there remains in the converter only subsulphide of copper, and this is shown clearly by the color of the flames. From this time the oscillatory movement of the converter should be re 5 versed-that is to say, in place of plunging the tuyeres deeper and deeper in the bath of melted metal they should be raised in a continuous manner. In fact, from this time, the sulphur continuing to be burned, the copper is liberated from the slag and it descends by virtue of its greater density below the remaining subsulphide. Therefore a slowly progressive ascending movement is given to the tuyeres, (in the reverse direction to that given 5 5 during the first part of the operation) so as to blow the air only into the subsulphide of copper by raising the level where the air acts on the mass in proportion to the height of the reduced copper, and this is to be continued un- 6o til all the subsulphide is decomposed. There remains in the converter crude copper. It is run out by tipping the converter to the position shown in Fig. 4, or the copper can be refined in the converter itself by any ordinary process.

At the middle of the operation, whenitis recognized by the color of the flames that all the iron has been burned, the converter is tipped to the position Fig. 1, and the slag which floats, if sufficiently fluid, is run out, the air which strikes the surface at the rear of the bath being usually sufficient to force it out. If the slag is not fluid, it is raked out by the usual means. The apparatus is afterward turned back to reduce, as aforesaid, the subsulphide of copper by still further blowing. It is to be understood that at this point of the operation the injection of silica is stopped, since there is no longer any iron to scorify, and consequently there is no further fear of injury to the lining of the converter. It will be seen that by this process poor and impure mattes can be treated at will for obtaining either a white matte absolutely free from iron and other bodies more easily oxidized than copper, or crude copper, or even refined copper in condition for rolling, and this is done in less than an hour after having taken the matte from the blast-furnace an d without consumption of fuel. Independent of these import-ant results this process obtains a marked economy in the pressure of the air, the

tuyeres being plunged beneath the surface of V the matte only the amount really necessary. This improvement also permits of treating in the same apparatus variable quantities of material with the same conditions of blast.

I do not herein lay claim to the process of treating copper matte set forth in my United States application, Serial No. 93,228, filed April 27, 1883, in which an ordinary converter is made use of, and the air is admitted all around the base of the same, and the depth at which the air is causedto enter the matte cannot be varied by tipping the converter, because the converter has to be swung up rapidly to a vertical position and there remains; otherwise the melted matte would run into the lowest of the ranges of tuyere-holes.

I do not claim a converter of a cylindricalout unnecessarily chilling the melted copper.

I clainras my invention The method herein specified of treating copper matte and reducing the same to copper, consisting in running the melted matte into a cylindrical converter having a single horizontal row of tuyeres partially revolving the cylindrical converter and blowing through the tuyeres, so that the air commences to act uniformly at the surface of the matte, continuing the movement until the air reaches the surface of the melted copper that has subsided into the bottom of the converter, and then reversing the movement to raise the tuyeres and cause the air to act gradually from the surface of the melted copper up to the surface of thematte and slag for cornpletallurgic operations signed by me this 10th ing the reduction of the slag to copper, and day of January, 1884.

then removing the slag or floating foreign substances and pouring out the copper, sub- PIERRE MANHES.

5 stantially as set forth, Witnesses:

The foregoing specification of my improve- JULES LEPINETTE, ment in portable converter-furnaces for met- I. P. A. MARTIN. 

